My initial idea was (after the gig and the post-gig festivities) to come home and send the setlist before anyone else the chance. Unfortunately, I'd managed to lose the list for the first half of the show during the intermission and on arrival chez moi I found the entire residence without electricity. However, as the show was shamelessly bootlegged by several Voices (yes, I mean you, Sorensen, stop shuffling your feet, boy) this situation will no doubt shortly be remedied. Pete played a new song (this is exclusive to Midnight Voices) which doesn't really have a title yet as well as a few which I've never heard live before like "You Better Face it, Boy" which neatly segued (if that's how you spell it) into "The Hypertension Kid" and also "While The Music Lasts." He also did a few things he doesn't perform too often like "Driving Through Mythical America" and "My Dreams Are Troubled." He also revealed a little-known side of himself by introducing many of the songs in flawless, well, relatively flawless French. He sang later "Ce n'est pas magnifique" but it was, Pete!

The rest of the festivities were equally magnifique (though a few may quibble especially those who took part in the Quiz and yes, once again I'm looking at you, Sorensen.) Noam who'd come all the way from New Zealand with his family put several Voices in the shade with his knowledge of PA songs and has been awarded the Golden Anorak of St. Germain-en-Laye. I also take my hat off to Rob Spence (or I would if I wore one) for his participation in the Charades part of the Quiz where participants were invited to mime PA song titles. I had been looking forward to seeing Rob interpret "Femme Fatale" and I was not disappointed ...

A large part of the success of all this was due to the absolutely perfect weather and the opportunity of being able to take full advantage of Oliver's garden just across from the Chateau. We have him to thank as well as Mrs. Ash and Oliver's sons who have obviously inherited Oliver's sense of business enterprise.

Several Voices (and others) suggested that a future outdoor gig in the courtyard of the Chateau would be a good idea. I think so too but it would take some filling. However, I'm sure Oliver, emboldened by the success of this weekend, will sort something out. Anyway, thanks for a great weekend, Pete and everyone else.

Have you got a biro G Ice cream man P Dancing master P An empty table P I know the way it will go G Carnations on the roof G Hill of little shoes P Driving through mythical Ameican P Beware of the beautiful stranger G Be careful when they offer you the moon G

Just a quick note to say that the set list is version 2 as my first attempt didn't make it to the site and I lost it, so had to do it all again very quickly as we have a train to catch to Paris in 10 mins.

It was a great night, with Pete in fine voice. I think his vocal for Canoe was the best ever version. Thanks to Oliver, Iain and Oliver's army of helpers at the chateau.

As promised, some pics from the weekend. They start the day before then move to the garden party at chez Ash. Note the photo of Ian Chippet playing guitar - that's THE guitar, the one Pete used on BotBS. Still sounds great, even in Ian's hands.

The concert in the chateau was in a very comfortable theatre with excellent sound, courtesy of Mr Birkill. There was an interval, shown in the photos by pics of people in the courtyard and the changing colour of Pete's shirt. Afterwards many people assembled in the bar across the road.

Well now that the adrenaline is slowly soaking away - even though the tunes keep going round my head day and night - I hope all those who attended Chateau de Reves enjoyed the event as much as I did. Thanks to you all for coming over from New Zealand, Wisconsin, New York, Scotland, all over England and even the far flung Jura. Thanks in particular to Ian C for helping with organising it all, Steve B for looking after sound for the concert and my wife Geraldine for her encouragement and her successful marketing efforts. And of course thanks to Pete for making it all possible!

We had about 90 in all for the concert, which exceded expectations. Pete now has a few brand new Gallic admirwrs as a result. Perhaps the most passionate has to be our friend Rachel. Following a wonderful relaxed Sunday mini-performance by Pete chez nous in the garden and then on the baby grand in the living-room she groaned:"Pete, est-ce que je peux vous embrasser?": priceless.

The venue was original to say the least; crossing the wonderful castle courtyard to get to the auditorium was pretty spectacular.

Pete suffered a bit from the lack of ventilation in the auditorium making his fingers slip on the guitar. Just one of those things. It didn't spoil anyone's enjoyment of a fine performance. I enjoyed in particular a beautiful 30 Year Man, Canoe and Laughing Boy.

Good memories of: MVs all over the garden, bright sunshine, moving all the chairs up to the shady terrace for the quiz; my kids going round selling beers and cola to all and sundry including me at one stage, forgetting who had funded their enterprise; a very convivial get-together for drinks at the local bar afterwards, several groups dotted inside and outside the bar, buzzing with the emotion of the concert; being thrown out at 1h15 with Noam, Karen and Vicky, slightly worse for wear, and stumbling homewards; relaxing on Sunday and enjoying Pete playing Skip to my Lou for Arthur in the garden; Pete playing Hill of Little Shoes in our living-room while 5 small children played in the play-room next door, which seemed so appropriate.

our friend Rachel. Following a wonderful relaxed Sunday mini-performance by Pete chez nous in the garden and then on the baby grand in the living-room she groaned:"Pete, est-ce que je peux vous embrasser?": priceless.

Many thanks to Oliver and Géraldine for such wonderful hospitality and for organising a brilliant event! And Ian too of course - even his singing didn't make the sun go in Also to be mentioned are Oliver and Géraldine's three boys. Really delightful, especially Tim who was a star helper!

A couple of highlights:

Tenderfoot - I always forget what a gem this song is. Pete mentioned he didn't play it that often - well he should. A classic PA/CJ song.

Meeting Karen Atkins - who has been a voice for many years but was a little reticent to speak out. She plucked up the courage to say hello and I was so pleased she had. We had a lovely chat and I'm sure we'll keep in touch from time to time and maybe meet up at a future event.

Interesting to see that Oliver has been bitten by the 'could do this again' bug. It is true that once you have a good venue, close to home so you can keep tabs easily, it kinda gets into your blood. Great to see everyone again on this fab weekend.

You're very welcome Carole; yes I certainly would consider doing it again, if Pete would, perhaps in a couple of years time if we are still in a fit state to...fingers crossed.

Replying to Cary, I apologise for the ambiguity of my post, which you are over-analysing as though it were a CJ lyric...even though I was in a dreamlike trance for most of the performance I'm pretty sure it was Pete on the piano throughout...well obviously not ON the piano...

Work has been quite demanding for some months now, but faced with Oliver Ash and Ian Chippett's initiative for an Île-de-France "Field of Dreams" event at the end of May (despite the persistent title of this MV Forum thread), Carole and I made a supreme effort to liberate a few days around the time of the Jubilee holiday to attend the performance, and visit one of our (well, my) favourite cities. And are we glad we did!

We hadn't seen Pete in a while, and had missed what by all accounts was a superb gig at Walthamstow in April, so the lure of the "Champ de rêves" would in any case have been hard to resist. But it turned out better than we could ever have imagined. Of course it wasn't actually in a field -- the venue was the historic Château Vieux at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a small town just 12 miles north-west of Place de la Concorde, but in spirit far removed from the French capital.

As we were to discover later, several of the UK attendees had also chosen the Eurostar crossing, but it was our first time. Our 09:30 train from Sheffield gave us an easy transfer at St Pancras, and by 15:45 we were disembarking at Paris Gare du Nord. There, as in the UK, it was possibly the hottest day since the March false summer, and with the Whitsun holiday weekend looming the RER connection was a little uncomfortable at first, but we were soon out of the city and rolling into St Germain.

Oliver and his wife Géraldine had graciously offered to accommodate us for the weekend, and their home -- a house historic in itself -- directly adjoints the château grounds, so we were soon settling into our cosy bear-themed attic bedroom. Pete and his wife Mary were already established across the landing, having taken the overnight ferry and driven down from Le Havre.

Oliver soon appeared, as did Ian Chippett, followed by Géraldine and the boys. With no time to spare we (Oliver, Ian, Pete and I) grabbed Pete's gear and carried it across to the château. A royal palace dating in part from the 12th century, the Château Vieux now serves as a museum and stands in its own park with extensive gardens and terraces on a limestone plateau overlooking the Seine, with views to La Defense. On the north side the park adjoins the huge forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, while the building's entrance on Place du Château connects directly with the town centre. The modern auditorium occupies the southeastern corner on the ground floor of the building, and is accessed through the atmospheric inner court. Here we met the French technician who introduced us to the sound and lighting equipment.

The compact Bose console was a 4/5-channel mixer with digital effects and parametric controls, new to me. My French is rudimentary at best and the French tech spoke no English, but after fumbling my questions about 'puissance', 'paramètres' and 'interrupteurs' with the help of Oliver's fluent French, we were confident about controlling the system. Pete was in good form for the sound check, and we were treated to interpretations of some of his favourite songs, on his new, red, Nord electronic keyboard.

Later our whole party went for dinner on the terrace of the Brasserie du Théâtre, across the square from the château.

The Saturday of the concert dawned fine and bright, and eventually we grabbed some breakfast with the help of young Tim Ash, and headed off into town in search of picnic provisions (basically bread, cheese and wine) for the afternoon. Some of our fellow Voices (see their own comments on this thread and the PA/CJ Facebook group) had stayed in a local hotel, and drifted in to Oliver's during the afternoon, to relax in the garden and participate in Ian Chippett's slightly chaotic Atkin song trivia quiz.

And so to the evening. After a welcome from Oliver, Pete introduced the first song in French, explaining to the audience the significance of 'Biro'. This diluted the impact of the splendidly executed trope of a perfect Perfect Moments guitar intro turning into Have You Got A Biro I Can Borrow? on the first word of the verse, but still it was appreciated by the connoisseurs. Not sure the easy-swinging groove suits the eager young poet portrayed in the lyric so well as the original treatment.

To keyboard for Ice Cream Man -- classic in every respect.

Dancing Master -- the tango instructor is sustained from one week's lesson to the next by his infatuation, obsession even, with his young pupil.

An Empty Table perfectly rendered. More lost love: the narrator walks past the scene of his once-frequent romantic rendezvous at a Thames-side restaurant.

Pete had to re-tune his guitar (the black Atkin small Jumbo), which was drifting in the high heat and humidity of the setting, for I Know The Way, a new and unrecorded song many will not yet have heard. In another one-sided relationship, the singer is certain that his sparkling date will realise the perfect inevitability of their union, but somehow the girl continues to entertain other ideas.

Still on guitar, Carnations On The Roof was padded out by an extra couple of bars between each line of the chorus, and repetitions of the final phrase. A difficult one to finish satisfactorily, but then so is the subject.

Back to piano for Hill Of Little Shoes, beautifully and touchingly delivered.

Then came Beware Of The Beautiful Stranger on guitar, a particular favourite of the Ash boys, to the point where Oliver would sing it to them at bedtimes. The three boys, refreshingly gentle and in no way street-smart, in a style once familiar in the UK, sat quiet and absorbed throughout the concert.

"This is a song we wrote to warn ourselves how dangerous it would be to be famous... Fortunately, we have never needed the warning" -- Be Careful When They Offer You The Moon.

During the interval the audience spilled out into the château's courtyard to discuss the evening so far, pausing only to shell out their 5 Euros for one or more of the CDs on sale. On our return we found Pete had done a quick change (à la Madonna, he offered) and was ready to tackle the second half with renewed vigour.

The Beautiful Changes (guitar) Pete executed in strict tempo, without the triplet feel of Julie Covington's version (coincidentally re-issued this coming week on the Cherry Red/Cherry Tree label.)

Next he played a favourite of mine from the Footlights days, You'd Better Face It, Boy on piano, segueing into a snappy Hypertension Kid.

Another recent and very poignant song, Me To Thank, addresses the recurrent James theme of regret, the narrator blaming his present predicament on his own actions, or inactions, rather than simply on the passage of time.

Apparition In Las Vegas (guitar), starting slowly and accelerating, was introduced as "about you" (the audience), though I couldn't spot a single pink rinse myself. But the guy on stage indeed "wrote and bound the book of which our early aspirations were the pages".

Pete described the songwriter's difficulty in keeping a song small, compact and simple, and illustrated it by playing Buddy Holly's Learning The Game.

Canoe, a story of exploration across the centuries and by now a very familiar favourite, was brilliantly executed on piano to high acclaim from the audience. I'll have to get a version of this on YouTube one of these days -- perhaps a mash-up of concert performances with historic or dramatic footage (frameage?) from 1970.

One of the very first two or three songs Clive James and Pete Atkin ever wrote, My Dreams Are Troubled, appeared on the 1967 privately-pressed LP While The Music Lasts sung by Julie Covington. Here Pete gave it a straight and simple piano treatment which brought out the beauty of the melody.

Next came one of the evening's highlights, Tenderfoot. A masterful evocation of the desert landscapes of the American southwest, this relentlessly driving verse-chorus number is an allegory of a man suffering massive regret for his loss of true love through a lifetime's uncaring actions. Written for the Secret Drinker album of 1974, this is surely one of Clive James' greatest and most poignant lyrics.

Back to fingerstyle guitar for another welcome rarity from the Footlights days, You Are The Music (While The Music Lasts). Then to piano again for an immaculate Thirty Year Man.

Pete rounded off the second set with Laughing Boy, on guitar with a boogie groove, remarking how on his tours with Clive the song featured as a finale in which Clive would also sing, and how he (Pete) would often have to modify the rhythm to fit with Clive's apparent inability to count beats and bars.

For an encore, Pete sang Tonight Your Love Is Over (guitar), remarking that the song has been omitted from the new CD of Julie's The Beautiful Changes, though it did feature on the (out of print) See For Miles reissue of 1999.

This must have been one of Pete's most memorable concerts in years, and the grandeur of the setting surely eclipsed almost anywhere else he has played.

After the show the bulk of the audience wandered across the square to the bar La Soubise, where we satisfied our hunger and thirst late into the evening.

Carole and I quit out on Sunday morning for a couple of days in Paris, leaving Pete to lunch and to play a few things for Oliver and his family before heading for home.

The remainder of the audience (87 strong in total, if I remember correctly) was made up of locals, other Parisian UK expats and friends of Oliver and Géraldine, not all of whom we had the opportunity to meet.

All in all, a grand few days out! Very large thanks to the Ashs, Ian and of course Pete.

I'll generate a permanent version of this review as a page on the website, with photos and perhaps a video, over the next few days.

Blimey, more than a week gone already. What a memorable weekend that was, for a large number of intermingling reasons. A huge thank you from me to all of those who intermingled so, well, memorably. But a specially big one to Oliver, Geraldine, Julian, Arthur, and Timothy, and another one, nearly as big, to all who made such efforts to be there. And a large gold star to Steve for figuring out so well that neat-seeming little Bose mixer thingie - as well as for that (alarmingly comprehensive!) report. Here's to the next time, wherever and whenever.